'Any Human Heart' review: Glacial pace, heavy soul

TV REVIEW

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, February 12, 2011

Photo: Joss Barratt, Channel 4 For MASTERPIECE

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Celebrated writer William BoydÕs best-selling novel Any Human Heart is adapted as a stunning MASTERPIECE miniseries about a man Ñ at various times a writer, lover, prisoner of war and spy Ñ making his often precarious way through the 20th century. Pictured: (left to right) Matthew MacFadyen as Logan Mountstuart and Hayley Atwell as Freya Deverell less

Celebrated writer William BoydÕs best-selling novel Any Human Heart is adapted as a stunning MASTERPIECE miniseries about a man Ñ at various times a writer, lover, prisoner of war and spy Ñ making his often ... more

The question at the very uneven core of "Masterpiece's" "Any Human Heart" is whether the quality of one's life is the result of the choices we make along the way, or pure happenstance.

Launching a three-part miniseries Sunday night on PBS with a script by William Boyd based on his 2002 novel, "Heart" follows Logan Mountstuart as he spends his long life perhaps damned by something his father tells him as a boy: "It's just luck in the end," the elder Mountstuart observes. "All the good luck, all the bad luck. Enjoy the good luck when it comes your way."

Such a seemingly innocuous observation, yet as Logan evolves from student, to writer, to secret agent, to art gallery dealer, we see how it informs a kind of amorality in his character that propels him to sleep with his college mate's girlfriend and, later, the same man's wife, marry a woman he doesn't love and then push her aside when he meets the real love of his life.

Along the way, happenstance does play a role in Mountstuart's life. There are good things, such as meeting his second wife, Freya (Hayley Atwell), a woman far better than he seems to deserve. And there are bad things, such as meeting the future Duke and Duchess of Windsor (Tom Hollander and Gillian Anderson) on a golf course. Later on, Logan becomes a kind of pet for the Windsors, until they turn on him when he accuses them of covering up a murder.

At the time, Logan is in the British navy, working as a spy for Ian Fleming (Tobias Menzies). But Logan isn't particularly patriotic - nationalism and scruples are perfectly fine when convenient, but easily dispensable otherwise: As an old man, he hooks up with a ragtag group of young British anarchists because he is getting paid to distribute their newspaper, the Situation (no connection, alas, to the "Jersey Shore" character).

Rather than smother a younger actor in old-man makeup, the producers have opted to have three different actors portray Logan throughout his life. Each is good, but, more to the point, their performances mesh adequately enough for you to believe they are the same person. Sam Claflin is Logan as a college student, fledgling writer and young husband, all aglow with youth's self-blinding hopefulness.

Matthew Macfadyen takes over as Logan in middle age, increasingly embittered by loss, driven to drink, his amorality honed to spite for all he's suffered in his life. Jim Broadbent plays Logan as an old man, arranging his papers and memorabilia at the end of his life in a ramshackle house in the French countryside, perhaps making peace at last with his flawed character and coming to terms with the consequences of his long life.

The conceit of Boyd's book and this mini-epic is provocative, but unfortunately, the reality is something else. The first of the three parts is almost entirely agonizing, as are whole chunks of the other two parts. Some of this has to do with director Michael Samuels' glacial pacing of the story. The rest has to do with either that Logan is often difficult to like or care about, or that some of the plot strings are downright silly - they may work well on the page, but jammed in against more serious (and more credible) occurrences in the film, they feel out of place. Ultimately, though there is an emotional release in the end, the whole enterprise is hugely depressing.

The one reason to endure all of this molten torpor is the quality of several performances. Broadbent, of course, is titanic in his Lear-like rage and regret. What an amazing actor he is, able to bring depth and humanity and completely distinct characterization to virtually any part he plays. Macfadyen is a one-dimensional actor who is here, as always, reliable. Claflin is quite good as the young Logan, convincing us of the character's mix of ambition and callowness.

Kim Cattrall does her usual Kim Cattrall number as the younger Gloria, oversexed wife of Logan's longtime friend, Peter Scabius (Samuel West). But, later on, as a much older woman facing a situation beyond her control, she delivers a poignant spot-on performance. Atwell is entirely convincing as the loving Freya. But, hands down, Anderson's Wallis Simpson is so reptilian, you'll regret the frustrating brevity of her part.

So, in the end, is our course in life determined by our actions or by luck? If you believe the former, you may want to avoid "Any Human Heart" altogether. One thing to be said about sitting through its 4 1/2 hours: It may help you identify with the regret Logan Mountstuart feels toward the end of his life.

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